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The production of lithium-ion batteries is characterized by high scrap rates. With material costs of 70-80% of the cell price, these are a significant cost factor. By using AI, correlations of process data and cell properties can be determined and particularly quality-relevant process steps can be identified. However, the prerequisite for the use of AI is a clean collection, description and allocation of data which is very time-consuming. In the BMBF-funded projects “KontElPro”, for solvent-free electrode production and “AgiloBat2”, for the agile production of format-flexible cells, software is being developed to solve this problem. The corresponding software system "Batalyse" is capable of automatically collecting, categorizing, linking and evaluating test, analysis and production data. Quality-relevant parameters of the produced (lab) cells such as capacity, resistance and power can thus be directly correlated with process parameters and data. The complete process chain of input materials, (intermediate) products, sensors, equipment, process parameters and all evaluated result data of the produced cells is stored in the database. All data, correlations and logic is provided by this database via an interface for AI applications. The aim is to use this data to generate digital twins of each individual process step and to optimize them step by step. Later, the processes are to be controlled autonomously by AI applying optimized process parameters to avoid or at least to reduce scrap. In the talk we present the structure, status and use of the software for research data management and in the use of in the research production of Li-ion cells.

Mechanical modifications or harmful side reactions are undesirable ageing effects that can occur during cycling. These phenomena have a negative impact on cell performance and consequently limit cycling stability. The focus here is on investigations of ageing processes such as volume changes and electrolyte decomposition during cycling. Thickness measurements as well as gas analytical studies of Li-C half cells with a carbonate-based electrolyte are presented. Graphite and Hard Carbon, respectively, were used as carbon materials. The electrolyte applied consists of 1M LiPF6 in EC:DMC (1:1, wt). All investigations were carried out using specially developed multifunctional test setups and accordingly modified test cells. Application-oriented analysis such as gas analysis, thickness measurements or both combined are suitable methods to define operating parameter, to benchmark and to identify decomposition reactions.In-operando electrochemical dilatometry was conducted to check whether an irreversible increase in thickness occurred. On the corresponding cell configurations, the dilatation was recorded over the entire electrode stack as well as of the separate working electrode only.Furthermore, in-operando MS could be used to detect gaseous substances produced by (electro)chemical processes as a function of the state of charge. With the GC-MS, a post-mortem analysis could be performed to identify the individual substances qualitatively. Results of the different half cells are shown and can be compared with each other. A detailed relationship can be demonstrated between the change in thickness and the potential curve. Moreover, any emerging Li-plating is clearly detectable. Among others, carbon dioxide, ethane as well as ethene were identified as degradation products of the carbonate-based electrolyte and are formed during the charging process. In addition, possible correlations between gas evolution and thickness changes can be shown. These analytical studies make an important contribution to get a more detailed insight into ageing processes that take place. The possible combination of in-operando dilatometry with in-operando mass spectrometry opens up new interesting perspectives to analyse cell performance. Finally, the shown results lead to a better understanding and help to develop appropriate countermeasures in order to reduce the negative effects and thus to ensure a higher cycling stability. This work is supported by the Fraunhofer and Max Planck cooperation program (Germany) in the project “ClusterBatt” with Fraunhofer Institute for Material and Beam Technology IWS, Dresden and Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces MPIKG, Potsdam. Figure 1

Li-S cells can have high gravimetric energy densities above 300 Wh kg−1 when the electrodes and cell components are optimized. Low electrolyte/sulfur mass ratios or more generallly, the relative amount of electrolyte in a Li-S cell have an especially high impact on the achievable gravimetric energy density. A negative side effect of low electrolyte/sulfur ratios are low cycle numbers due to electrolyte decomposition and the possibility that electrolyte becomes inaccessible at the lithium metal anode when the lithium becomes more and more porous during cycling. Electrode thickness measurements were performed during cycling for various cell chemistries such as lithium-sulfur (Li-S) with different cathode sulfur loadings and porosities, lithium-hard carbon (Li-HC), lithium-silicon (Li-Si), prelithiated HC-sulfur (LiHC-S), prelithiated Si-sulfur (LiSi-S) and Li-ion. The thickness measurements provided information about mechanical stress and irreversible thickness changes. The thickness measurements also helped to explain different electrolyte decomposition behavior and they can be used to discuss the impact of thickness changes on gas analysis. The electrolyte decomposition of the Li-S standard electrolyte based on lithium bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)imide (LiTFSI) in dimethoxyethane (DME): dioxolane (DIOX) with LiNO3 was examined by online mass spectrometry (MS) within Li-S, Li-HC, Li-Si, LiSi-S and LiHC-S cells. Several electrolyte decomposition products were verified by post-mortem gas chromatography (GC) and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) of Li-S cells with cycled electrolyte.

Cast start situations for rolling ingot DC casting can represent severe risks for cast shop workers due to unforeseen development of butt curl of individual ingots. Hydro’s R&D center Bonn has the ambition to provide procedures and related tools helping to preventing these risks. In order to react on the critical development of butt curl of individual ingots in a casting unit a monitoring of relative motion of the bottom side of the solidifying ingot to the starter block is required. This means a continuous distance measurement under extremely harsh conditions. Possible solutions must be watertight, heat resistant, need wireless data transmission capabilities and implementation and preparation of the system have to be user-friendly. Current status of the development includes real-time visualization and data storage in the process control system. This paper describes the technological approach, the testing under plant conditions and application examples of the system.

In-operando Raman spectroscopy with high spatial resolution (1 µm2) was employed to study the lithium deposition reaction on graphite electrodes. The 1850 cm−1 acetylide band, which is always found on lithium metal spectra, appeared right after reaching the full lithiation of graphite, when the G and D bands of graphite vanished. The band was observed during potestiostatic overcharge at high and low current rates and in a post-mortem analysis. The results suggest that during the constant voltage step, lithium is deposited and concurrently chemically intercalated into graphite. The second mechanism becomes the dominant after 30 min, when the current decreases. The evolution of the G and D bands of graphite and the lithium concentration in the electrolyte was also studied. The results suggest that EC is slowly consumed after the onset of lithium plating. This work demonstrates the possibility of studying locally the lithium plating onset and chemical intercalation on the graphite electrodes in real time.

As more and more applications require high energy density electrochemical storage systems that deliver more than 200 Wh/kg, Lithium-ion batteries with silicon-based anodes provide promising electrochemical properties especially high specific capacity. In this paper, we present micro-grain structured silicon deposited by DC sputtering on special copper foil that serves as current collector. It is demonstrated that high-density silicon anodes are obtained with more than 2000 mAh g−1 and 2.0 mAh cm−2 that can be considered as a commercial value. In addition, irreversible capacity during the first galvanostatic cycle can be lower than 20% for such anodes. Finally, it is found that there exists a clear correlation between the grain-size and the texture of the amorphous silicon to the electrochemical performance of half-cells.

Målet med denne studien var å se nærmere på trener-utøver relasjonen, et underutviklet felt innen idrettspsykologisk forskning (Yang & Jowett, 2016), og hvilken betydning denne relasjonen har for utøvers utvikling. Jowetts «3Cs» (Jowett & Meek, 2000; Jowett & Ntoumanis, 2004) ble brukt som teoretisk rammeverk. Videre ble det postulert, med bakgrunn i teori, at en potensiell positiv sammenheng kunne være påvirket av utøvers evne til å selvregulere læring. Dette er en spørreskjemabasert tverrsnittundersøkelse av ungdomsfotballag på regionalt og nasjonalt nivå. Utvalget bestod av 47 mannlige fotballspillere i alderen 14-19 år (M = 16,5, SD = 1,41), fra 3 forskjellige lag, og 3 trenere, tilhørende hvert av lagene, fra 24-47 år (M = 38,9, SD = 10,5). Trener-utøver relasjonen ble testet med to forskjellige utgaver av nCART-Q (Caspersen, 2007), én utøver- og én trenerutgave. Selvregulering av læring ble testet med et fotballspesifikt skjema av Toering, Jordet og Ripegutu (2013). Spillerens utvikling siste år er vurdert av spillerens trener, på en skala fra 1-10. Av resultatene ser det ut til å være en sammenheng mellom treners følelse av «closeness» overfor utøveren og utøvers utvikling det siste året (rs = ,409, p < ,01). Det diskuteres om dette er på grunn av Pygmalion-effekten (Rosenthal og Jacobson, 1968), om det er fordi trenere liker spillere som har utviklet seg mer bedre enn andre spillere, eller om det er på grunn av glorie-effekten (Cooper, 1981). Det fantes ingen medierende effekt av selvregulering av læring mellom relasjonen og utvikling i denne studien. Dog finner vi allikevel svake til moderate positiv korrelasjoner mellom utøvers følelse av «closeness» og selvreguleringsprosessene planlegging (rs = ,304, p < ,05) og evaluering (rs = ,345, p < ,05). Disse sammenhengene har aldri tidligere vært påvist i en idrettslig kontekst og bør således forfølges videre, da de kan være med på å utvide vår forståelse av hvilken betydning signifikante andre har for selvregulering av læring. Denne studien er den første der disse idéene kobles og verktøyene brukes på denne måten. Derfor bør studien anses som en slags pilotstudie og resultatene tolkes på denne måten. Avslutningsvis legges det fram metodiske begrensninger, forslag til fremtidig forskning og praktiske implikasjoner.

Li–S cells have high potential gravimetric cell energy densities between 200 and 600 Wh kg −1 . To obtain a high cell energy density, the sulfur fraction in the electrode and the sulfur load per cm 2 electrode should be as high as possible next to a good electrochemical sulfur utilization. The quantity of electrolyte added to a cell is crucial for the latter, and an excess of electrolyte is generally beneficial for the electrochemical results. Existing publications on Li–S cells therefore use an excess of electrolyte leading to high electrolyte/sulfur (E/S in ml g −1 ) ratios as these enable high cycle numbers and good sulfur utilization. However, these studies do not take account of the high passive weight of the electrolyte. The high E/S ratios involved mean that the obtained cell energy density is below commercial lithium-ion cell level. To emphasize the impact of the electrolyte on the cell energy density we calculated possible cell energy densities from material test cell experiments for various E/S ratios, sulfur and carbon loads. Furthermore small pouch cells with only a very small dead cell volume absorbing electrolyte are created to examine ideal E/S ratios for a specific electrode.

In this work, detailed studies on Li dendrite formation in Li–S Batteries are reported. Li dendrites can grow rapidly, may pierce through or can easily grow around the separator. Dendrites can even lead to short circuits when cathode and/or anode are wrapped with the separator. By replacing the Li metal anode with a pre-lithiated Si anode, these dendrite problems could be successfully prevented and were not observed for more than 200 cycles. The here used Si microwire array anodes are examined with ether and carbonate based electrolytes and different charging conditions vs. a Li metal counter electrode and demonstrate very high capacities matching the theoretical values. Electrochemical pre-lithiated Si microwire array anodes are examined in full cells with binder free, sulfur infiltrated carbon nanotube cathodes (CNT-S) and various polysulfide or Li 2 S containing electrolytes. The average polysulfide chain length and the presence of LiNO 3 in the electrolyte have a great impact on the cycle stability of the cell, next to the charging conditions.

Supercapacitors are usually used as energy storage devices that work at a high current rate. This operating mode is often accompanied by the production of large amounts of heat inside the cell. Therefore, health monitoring of supercapacitors is still needed to avoid overheating and subsequent destruction. This paper presents a new method to determine the heat generation and the resulting temperature development of an aqueous hybrid capacitor based on extensive measurement data. We concentrate not only on the Ohmic power loss but also on heat phenomenon originating from side and overcharge reactions as well as entropy effects. The bearing of the final state of charge and the charging current on the temperature development is demonstrated. Finally, the temperature parameters of air and water cooled capacitors are simulated. The temperature distribution within the cell as a function of time is presented and discussed. The great advantage of the developed evaluation method is that it is an inexpensive method which can be realised in most test laboratories and that the measurements and simulations consider all crucial origins of power loss. The results obtained can be used to evaluate appropriate cooling systems. The method can be applied to capacitors and batteries.

Li-S cells have a low voltage (about 2.1 V), but their potentially high energy density (200-500 Wh/kg) makes them a promising system for next generation batteries. To obtain high energy densities on cell level, the weight fraction and load of the active material should be as high as possible, while inactive material is reduced to a minimum. Conventionally, sulfur slurry cathodes with an aluminum current collector are used. However, binder-free CNT-coated carbon structures are a promising method of achieving higher loads and higher ratios of active material. Using a specially designed test cell it was demonstrated that sulfur cathodes without a metal current collector can deliver enough power to meet the requirements of consumer electronics at simultaneously high capacities of up to 600 m Ah g-1 for the entire electrode and current collector. A literature study compared various equivalent circuits used for Li-S electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), and enabled the selection of the most suitable one for the system used here. EIS measurements during charge and discharge delivered vital information about the specific resistances of the sulfur cathodes with a carbon current collector.

To obtain information about the Li-S reaction mechanism through spectroscopy, a Raman literature study, polysulfide vibrational mode calculations and experimental in-situ measurements were performed. A special test cell was constructed to examine in-situ Raman spectra in the spectral range from 100 cm-1 to 600 cm-1during charge and discharge in the voltage range of 1.5 V to 3.0 V. In order to assign the in-situ Raman data and to support the interpretation of the observed changes in the overall Raman-spectrum, several reference measurements on well-defined substances were conducted. The reference measurements included pure solvents, electrolytes and polysulfide solutions prepared from stoichiometric mixtures of S8 and Li2S powders. The assignment of the observed Raman-spectra was fürther based on a comparison with purely theoretical data for the vibrational modes of the polysulfide di-anions Sn2- and radical mono-anions Sn- calculated at the B3PW91/6-311G(2df,p) level o f density functional theory (DFT). The DFT data for the vibrational spectra, corrected for solvent effects in the framework of the polarizable continuum model (PCM), allowed an identification of several characteristic features in the in-situ Raman spectra.

A new type of electrode for lithium–sulphur batteries is introduced based on vertical-aligned carbon nanotubes (CNTs) grown on a nickel foil without any binder. The electrodes are synthesized by employing a catalyst layer and a CVD process. The CNTs directly synthesized on the Ni current collector are sulphur infiltrated using different approaches and the results are examined by SEM. Furthermore, cycle tests (1.0–3.0 V) with various electrolytes (liquid organic, ionic liquid and solid) are performed. The binder free CNT cathodes contain the highest so far published total ratio of sulphur (90%) in the electrode. Additionally the sulphur mass per cm² electrode can be more than three times as high as in regular slurry-based sulphur electrodes, thus doubling the volumetric energy density.

SnOx electrode thin films for lithium ion batteries were deposited by reactive and non-reactive rf magnetron sputtering of a SnO2 target in an argon–oxygen atmosphere. Amorphous and nano-crystalline SnOx films could be synthesized, with regard to the O2:Ar volume ratio in the sputter gas which was adjusted to 0, 3.5 or 10%. Laser micro-structuring using a KrF excimer laser operating at a wavelength of λ = 248 nm was applied to create free-standing microstructures. Thus, the active surface of the anode material was significantly increased. Furthermore, it was expected that the large volume changes during electrochemical cycling of SnOx could be better compensated by a microstructured surface. The laser parameters were optimized in a way which leads to structures without any defects and little debris. Depending on the laser fluence and pulse number, free-standing conical structures could be formed with a horizontal spacing of

Li–S cells are considered a highly attractive electrochemical storage system, especially due to their high potential gravimetric energy density. The long-term target of all Li–S research activities must be to outperform state-of-the-art Li-ion cells. A current benchmark is the Panasonic NCR18650B, which has a gravimetric energy density of ≈240 Wh kg−1 and several hundred relatively stable cycles. The possible 18650 Li–S cell energies and cell costs are calculated for various sulfur loads, sulfur utilizations, and electrolyte/sulfur ratios with the aim of determining the cell and electrode property values required to outperform the NCR18650B. These values are compared with statistical information obtained from an extensive literature review of 274 Li–S publications over the last 12 years to show the gap between state-of-the-art Li–S research and requirements for high energy density cells. Finally, a carbon nanotubes-based electrode is introduced, which meets important criteria for obtaining high gravimetric cell energy densities.

Gas fluxing with the addition of chlorine or salt is widely used in the Aluminium industry to remove soluble impurities and nonmetallic inclusions and to produce a dry dross with lower Aluminium content. In particular the removal of alkaline metals Na, Ca and Li is important to achieve the appropriate product quality. The metallurgical performance of this furnace treatment process determines the treatment time required. This can have a significant effect on the furnace cycle time and subsequently overall cast house productivity.

A binder free thick film sulfur cathode based on a carbon structure with carbon nano tubes (CNT) is introduced. The sulfur mass can be varied between 3 and 20 mg cm −2 electrode leading to sulfur loads that are several times as high as in slurry electrodes. The electrode structure and thickness is examined by SEM, the surface area measured by BET and the in-plane conductivity is determined by a modified 4-point measurement. The achieved capacities for these extremely high sulfur loads are around 900 mAh g −1 sulfur at a current of 0.64 mA cm −2 electrode. Additionally the price of future Li–S cells (18650), both conventional sulfur slurry cathode and here introduced binder free CNT sulfur cathode were calculated and compared with a lithium-ion system (NCA-graphite).

Li-S cells are attractive due to their high potential gravimetric energy density, but they achieve only low cycle numbers. A major reason for this is a continuous electrolyte decomposition during cycling. As low electrolyte/sulfur ratios are required for high gravimetric energy density, this electrolyte decomposition reduces the obtainable cycle number to below 50. It is therefore extremely important to evaluate, reduce or ideally prevent this electrolyte decomposition by utilizing new electrolyte (additives), separators and protection layers. Applying in-situ mass spectroscopy, the electrolyte decomposition has been characterized for Li-S cells with lithium metal anode, silicon anode and carbon anode with various electrolyte compositions, electrodes and cycling parameters. Electrolyte cracking leads to gaseous substances, some of which are created continuously while others show a maximum depending on the state of charge. Standard ether-based Li-S electrolytes (e.g. DME:DIOX) are unstable with Li metal anodes and will always limit the obtainable cycle number unless further protection devices are applied. The attached figure demonstrates specific gaseous substances created in a Li-S cell during cycling between 1.8-2.6 V at 0.6 mA/cm². Figure 1

It is well known that silicon presents one of the most important anode materials for the improvement of lithium-ion cells in terms of energy density. Indeed, silicon’s high theoretical specific capacity to lithium (more than 3800 mAh/g at room temperature), environmental friendliness, low potential compared to lithium and material abundance turns silicon to a strong candidate for the replacement of carbon-based anodes [1]. However, one of the main drawbacks of silicon’s application to the lithium-ion technology is its poor electrochemical cycling stability over several galvanostatic cycles, mainly due to silicon’s huge volume change (around 300%) during lithiation and delithiation that lead to high internal mechanical stress [2]. Many alternatives have been proposed that alleviate this mechanical expansion through the use of nanostructured silicon sometimes combined with carbon-based materials [3]. However, most of proposed solutions are technically and financially demanding at least for production. In this presentation, we investigate the physical and the electrochemical properties of micro-grain structured silicon deposited on special copper with nodular grains. Silicon films with high loadings (0.8-1 mg/cm2) have been deposited with the aid of DC sputtering technique on top of copper foil with nodular grains. Half-cells with silicon as anode and Lithium metal as counter electrode were prepared. The gravimetric specific capacity was estimated by measuring the weight of silicon. Scanning Electron Analysis (SEM) has been performed in order to investigate the physical properties of the deposited material. Figure 1 demonstrates the SEM picture of the micro-grain structure of silicon when deposited on the copper foil with nodular grains. It is shown that silicon is organized in columnar form with grains of an average size of 1-2 μm. By KaptonTM tape tests, the adhesion of this material on the copper foil was found to be excellent. The equivalent silicon thickness that has been grown is estimated to be more than 4 μm (loading 0.8-1 mg/cm2). Figure 2 shows the electrochemical behavior of such half-cells when cycled with current of 0.6 mAh/cm2 (C/3 rate). Concerning the specific capacity, we observe a slight decrease from 2200 mAh/g to 1800 mAh/g and after the 5th cycle, an increase up to the initial value. It is also mentioned that the silicon anode achieves high specific areal capacity up to 2 mAh/cm2. According to McDowell at al. [4], amorphous silicon spheres with diameter of around 1 μm do not fracture upon lithiation and therefore anodes fabricated with such material demonstrate stable capacity over galvanostatic cycling. Thus, our experimental results further support that the DC sputtered amorphous spheres provide excellent capacity retention and good stability. Acknowledgement This work is supported by European Regional Development Fund and National Funds/German-Greek Bilateral R&D Cooperation Initiative/2013-2015. References [1] C. John Wen, Robert A. Huggins, Journal of Solid State Chemistry, 37, 271-278 (1981) [2] Candace K. Chan, Hailin Peng, Gao Liu, Kevin McIlwrath, Xiao Feng Zhang, Robert A. Huggins and Yi Cui, Nature Nanotechnology 3, 31 - 35 (2008) [3] Tae Hoon Hwang, Yong Min Lee, Byung-Seon Kong, Jin-Seok Seo, and Jang Wook Choi Nano Letters 12, 802-807 (2012) [4] Matthew T. McDowell, Seok Woo Lee, Justin T. Harris, Brian A. Korgel, Chongmin Wang, William D. Nix, and Yi Cui Nano Letters 13, 758-764 (2013) Figure 1

Lithium-sulfur cells are potential high gravimetric energy density cells with 200-500 Wh/kg. Unfortunately typical used ether based electrolytes are not stable towards Li and degrade during cycling next to a decreasing active Li mass. Typical Li-S publications therefore work with an excess of electrolyte and Li combined with relatively low sulfur loads allowing high cycle numbers at the cost of low practical relevance. High cell energy densities can only be obtained with a low electrolyte/sulfur ratio (ml/g) next to high sulfur utilization, fraction and load. Unfortunately low amounts of electrolyte typically decrease the sulfur utilization negatively and most sulfur cathodes need electrolyte/sulfur ratios between 5:1 and 10:1 to deliver maximum sulfur utilization. Unfortunately these ratios are too high to surpass the energy density of commercialized Li-Ion technology. We therefore suggest that the reserach focus should be switched away from maximizing only the sulfur utilization to optimization of the whole electrode capacity incl. the electrolytes weight. But even with such electrodes the obtainable cycle number will be low because of the electrolyte degradation. Since no superior, stable electrolytes exist up to now a good strategy might be the use of (lithiated) Si anodes instead of Li metal anodes. Si anodes face severe volume changes during cycling but are at least not completely converted like Li metal anodes. Thus, the electrolyte degradation might be slowlier with Si anodes and allow higher cycle numbers and also higher safety compared to Li metal anodes. In the talk we would like to give a short overview about state of the art Li-S research, discuss the impact of the electrolyte/sulfur ratio on cell energy density, show some S8-LixSiy full cell results with very high active material loads (Si > 2mg/cm²!) and conlude with safety test results of small Li-S multi layer pouch cells.

Li-S is a popular chemistry to obtain possible future high energy cells. Nevertheless, the unstable ether based electrolyte and safety + reliability concerns due to the Li metal anode are still major hurdles that are difficult to overcome. By replacing the Li anode with Si at least some of these problems can be addressed at the cost of losing some potential energy density. To compare the Li-S and the LixSiy-S system, optimized and pre-lithiated Si microwire anodes and binder free CNT-S cathodes were used. The capacity retention is greatly dependent on charging conditions and electrolyte additives and will be discussed next to possible degradation effects. The works is part of the joint project AlkaSuSi – Alkalimetal, sulfur and silicon and was financed by German ministry BMBF.

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Binder free vertical aligned (VA) CNT/sulfur composite electrodes with high sulfur loadings up to 70 wt% were synthesized delivering discharge capacities higher than 800 mAh g(-1) of the total composite electrode mass.

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Advanced laser material processing is a perfect tool for precise adjustment or tuning of surface properties of polymers, metals and ceramics. Different process strategies were developed and applied in order to realize localized chemical patterns, defined morphological structures or topographical modifications at the micro-and nanometer scale.In recent work laser-assisted surface functionalization was applied to nano-scaled and amorphous thin films and shows a great potential for various application fields such as biological surfaces, tribological systems and thin film lithium-ion batteries. For this purpose, we have combined r.f. magnetron sputtering and subsequent laser material processing of nano-scaled thin film electrode materials (LiCoO2, SnO2) and amorphous carbon layers (a-C:H, a-C:O). In the latter case it was possible to adjust the wetting behavior and surface energy by a photolytically driven chemical modification as well as by surface structuring on micro-and nanometer scale. Laser structuring and surface modification of electrode materials for lithiumion batteries was applied to significantly improve the electrochemical cycling stability, especially for increased electrical discharge currents. The modified surfaces were studied with regard to their chemical composition, morphology and electrochemical properties.Advanced laser material processing is a perfect tool for precise adjustment or tuning of surface properties of polymers, metals and ceramics. Different process strategies were developed and applied in order to realize localized chemical patterns, defined morphological structures or topographical modifications at the micro-and nanometer scale.In recent work laser-assisted surface functionalization was applied to nano-scaled and amorphous thin films and shows a great potential for various application fields such as biological surfaces, tribological systems and thin film lithium-ion batteries. For this purpose, we have combined r.f. magnetron sputtering and subsequent laser material processing of nano-scaled thin film electrode materials (LiCoO2, SnO2) and amorphous carbon layers (a-C:H, a-C:O). In the latter case it was possible to adjust the wetting behavior and surface energy by a photolytically driven chemical modification as well as by surface structuring on micro-and nanometer scale. Laser structuring ...